En 2004, Nicolas Aubagnac imaginait pour la maison Delisle une collection de luminaires en bronze née de la fusion de deux références fortes à ses yeux : la « Colonne Sans Fin » du sculpteur Brancusi, ce totem monumental et minimaliste, et un faisceau de brins de paille dorés cueillis un été dans les blés mûrs.

Ainsi naissait la collection Papyrus, qui se décline sans fin à partir d’un même cône modulaire à la texture végétale ciselée dans le bronze. Tous les modèles de cette collection reposent sur un système de composition en totem qui autorise des variations libres et infinies. C’est là tout le secret de sa longévité : un cône, mille objets… la collection n’a jamais cessé d’évoluer.

Derrière ce jeu de variations qui, comme la Colonne Sans Fin, ne s’arrête jamais, il y a une manufacture séculaire, la maison Delisle, bronziers d’art depuis 1895 au cœur du Marais, Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant et membre du Comité Colbert, aujourd’hui incarnée par Jean Delisle, cinquième génération. La même maison qui redonne leur éclat à Versailles, à la Place de la Concorde, ou au Palais Royal.

Nicolas Aubagnac et Jean Delisle poursuivent depuis plus de vingt ans un dialogue ininterrompu entre la tradition du bronze et la lumière.

« Ce que j’aime dans ces maisons au passé si riche, c’est plonger dans leur ADN pour inventer des objets qui perpétuent l’excellence de leurs savoir-faire et portent en eux une nouvelle histoire. »

Le bronze appartient aux Arts du Feu : on le fond, on le coule, on le reprend au ciselet, on le patine. Des gestes qui n’ont presque pas changé depuis trois mille ans. Il ne s’agit jamais d’un seul métier : modeleur, fondeur, ciseleur, patineur, doreur : chaque cône Papyrus passe entre plusieurs mains avant d’exister, et chacune y laisse quelque chose. C’est toute la force de la maison Delisle, de maîtriser cette chaîne complète.

Pour marquer cet anniversaire, une pièce exclusive est en cours d’achèvement : un lustre d’albâtre et de bronze qui sera dévoilé prochainement.

« Et puis il y a la lumière. Le bronze la capte, la retient, la renvoie. Il se patine avec le temps, il évolue, il ne se fige jamais. C’est peut-être pour ça qu’une collection née il y a plus de 20 ans continue à nous parler. »

Voir la vidéo « dans le secret des ateliers… »

This prize is awarded every two years to the 100 personalities who have made their mark on the landscape of French creation and showcased its expertise abroad.

It was her chalet decoration project that earned her recognition from jury members who came from all over the world to contribute their expertise to this prestigious award:

Mette Degn-Christensen director of Downtown Design Dubai
Ralph Pucci, founder of Ralph Pucci International, New York
Young-Keun Han, President of the Korean Institute of Architects, Seoul
Anne Louise Sommer director of the Designmuseum Danmark Copenhagen
Lionel Sauvage, President of the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris
Anna Zaoui, co-founder of The Invisible Collection London
Eric C. Yim, President of the Hong Kong Furniture and Decoration Trade Association, Hong Kong
Alexis Georgacopoulos, director of ECAL Lausanne. 

We create dreams that take shape in matter, to enchant the world.

Discover these creations in our Parisian showroom where we will be pleased to welcome you for a personalized appointment. 

A textile writing style that lies between decorative art and storytelling

French designer and interior architect Nicolas Aubagnac develops a unique body of work at the crossroads of furniture, art objects, and exceptional craftsmanship. His work is rooted in a self-proclaimed continuity with French decorative arts, while simultaneously seeking to project classicism into the present—and even into the future.

In this approach, tapestry occupies a special place. For him, it becomes a medium of expression in its own right, where the textile material—wool, relief, density—is worked as a narrative surface. Each piece is conceived as a collector's item, designed and made in France, signed, and destined to transcend time and become part of the heritage of decorative arts.

But beyond the material, a true form of writing unfolds: a visual writing nourished by symbolic and literary references.

2025: Hive and Mandorla, birth of a language

In 2025, at the Art Paris fair at the Grand Palais, Nicolas Aubagnac will unveil his first tapestries: Hive I, Hive II And Mandorla.

These works laid the foundations of his textile vocabulary.

• Hive I And Hive II They explore an organic geometry inspired by the honeycomb structure. They evoke natural architecture, the collective, and a form of universal order.
• Mandorla, Meanwhile, it evokes a more spiritual symbolism: this almond shape, inherited from sacred iconography, becomes a space of passage between inside and outside, between visible and invisible.

The success was immediate: collectors and influencers praised the plastic power of these pieces and their ability to reactivate a historical medium in a contemporary style.

2026: Persephone, B612, Lothlorien — the tapestry as literature

In 2026, still at Art Paris, Nicolas Aubagnac continues and deepens this research with three new tapestries: Persephone, B612 And Lothlórien.

The choice of titles marks a decisive evolution: the tapestry explicitly becomes a space for dialogue with literature.

• Persephone draws on Greek mythology. The figure of Persephone, between the world of the living and the underworld, echoes an aesthetic of transition, already present in Mandorla.
• B612 refers directly to the asteroid of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The tapestry here becomes a fragment of imagination, a mental landscape, almost cosmic.
• Lothlórien evokes the mythical forest of JRR Tolkien's universe, a suspended, timeless place where light and matter seem unreal.

Through these works, Aubagnac affirms a fundamental principle: tapestry is not merely decorative, it is narrative. It acts as a silent text, a surface to be read as much as looked at.

This literary dimension is not limited to intention: it is physically inscribed in the work. The texts that inspire each tapestry are woven onto the back of the pieces, like a hidden memory, an invisible layer of the narrative. This device reinforces the link between literature and material, and introduces an intimate, almost secret, reading of the work.

Towards an author's tapestry

With Hive, Mandorla, Then Persephone, B612 And Lothlórien, Nicolas Aubagnac does not simply revisit the tapestry: he offers an authorial interpretation of it.

At the crossroads of design, art, and literature, her works contribute to a renewal of contemporary decorative arts. They affirm a clear ambition: to make tapestry a living medium, capable of conveying complex imaginaries and engaging in dialogue with major cultural references.

In this respect, Aubagnac is part of a French tradition of "beauty" — but a tradition in motion, focused on creating the classics of tomorrow.

In the French Art Edition sector, I invite you to come and celebrate "Lyrical Design" and to discover my new creations, the result of an unprecedented dialogue between contemporary art, decorative arts and design.

Let's meet at stand J14, on the mezzanine.

The prestigious AD magazine pays tribute to the refined elegance of this interior, which embodies the splendor and charm of Art Deco. Each piece of furniture, each lamp, has found its place like the elements of a precious and precise marquetry.

My Thebes lamp, with its timeless shapes inspired by an obelisk, showcases parchment, a noble material emblematic of the 1930s and 40s, and which perpetuates an unparalleled craftsmanship.

Thank you Athena, it is an honor to be among other great names in decorative arts, in this apartment which contrasts so brilliantly with the "mainstream".